A.J. Jacobs, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

You know how a band you love will make a couple great albums and then you'll be waiting for a new one and instead they'll release an EP of six songs, which is pretty darn good but really is just makes you want another album?

This book is like that. A.J. Jacobs published two winners in a row, first reading the encyclopedia from cover to cover and then reading and following the dictates of the Bible. How do you top that? Apparently you don't; you start doing month-long experiments with your life instead of year-long ones. Whether he's trying out online dating as a woman, living by the code of George Washington, outsourcing his life to India, being "radically honest," or obeying everything his wife Julie says, Jacobs is always witty and observant and trenchant in his commentary on what his experiment has taught him. If you like Jacobs, you'll like this.

But I'm sorry, Julie: I want another big book. I hope A.J. thinks of something to do that doesn't completely turn your life upside down!

This is an Amazon review, available here.

Jonathan Lethem, Chronic City

Lots of laughs, some great lines, but...
But. That's the word I keep coming to as I try to describe this book. But it doesn't make sense, in the end. But the names of the characters are too clever by half. But I'm not sure if this is a 9/11 parable, a twitchy love letter to Manhattan, or a paranoid fantasy written while stoned. But if you want to read Lethem, there are so many other, better books you could choose than this one.

But...should you read this one? I'm not sure. If you do you'll want to put it down after 50 pages, and no one would blame you. It does get better, somehow; the longer you're trapped in Lethem's bizarro-world version of Manhattan the more it all starts to make sense: the eagles chasing the mayor's fixer into the arms of a woman dubbed the Hawkman, the three-legged dog with her own apartment, the doomed space station trapped by Chinese mines, the sculptures of empty space, the gray fog over the city, the snow in August. And then the final chapters roll around, and you feel like finally, you get it, only to turn the final pages and ask yourself: Was he the dupe? Or was I? Much as I want someone to discuss that question with, now that I've finished reading, I don't know if I can recommend subjecting yourself to the same thing.

This is an Amazon Vine review, available here.

Addendum

Change of mind: In Ghost Colours by Cut Copy is my favorite album of 2008.

So far this year it's Grizzly Bear and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but we shall see...

If you're reading this and haven't been by the blog in a while, the Amazon reviews feed has some new stuff in it, including South of Broad by Pat Conroy, The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus by Joshua Kendall, and Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes.

Best Music, 2008

Every year I say a little less about music, don't I?

This year I'll keep it super short-and-sweet. My favorite album of the year? Robyn, by Robyn. No one is more surprised by this than me. I also loved @#%&*! Smilers by Aimee Mann, Oracular Spectacular by MGMT, Santogold by Santogold, and A Piece of What You Need by Teddy Thompson.

But the mix of songs I made for 2008 is what really sums the year up for me. Previous years saw a CD-only affair distributed to about five people, but in 2008 it's gone completely digital. No half-steps for me! You can download it here.

And here's a tracklist:
1. The Weepies - Can't Go Back Now
2. MGMT - Time to Pretend
3. Aimee Mann - Freeway
4. Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
5. Alphabeat - Fascination
6. Robyn - Be Mine!
7. Cut Copy - Lights and Music
8. Wood Brothers - Buckets of Rain
9. Duffy - Rockferry
10. MGMT - Electric Feel
11. Aimee Mann - 31 Today
12. Martha Wainwright - Love is a Stranger
13. Santogold - I'm a Lady
14. Robyn - With Every Heartbeat
15. Teddy Thompson - Jonathan's Book
16. Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
17. Nada Surf - See These Bones

Next year I'll write a haiku.

Unfit to Lead

Obama's new ad sums it up:

Still Hanging

Well, the writers of As the World Turns are clever folk! They know that they've got their audience panting for Luke and Noah to finally--FINALLY!--have sex, and damned if they're not going to make us wait as long as humanly possible. It's got to happen soon; yesterday's episode pushed aside the last real impediment as Noah came home to Luke after considering enlisting. (I know, I know--how stupid!--but at least now we know Noah won't decide to join the Army at some point down the road.)

In the meantime, my friend Andy, who helped make the guys so popular in the first place by uploading their entire story to YouTube, made this video. Watch through the end for a little surprise...



Oh, and after months of toiling in other people's fields, I have one that I'm tending along with some of the coolest folks I've ever met: www.vanandjake.com. Stop by and see the ducks!

Halfway There

Well, we're halfway through 2008 and so far my CD-buying is continuing its tailspin. Consider that four of these albums are on their way to me right now and three of them I only own because I was asked to review them for Amazon and you can see just how much less music I am buying than in years past. Am I getting old? (I don't have an iPod, so I guess that question answers itself.)

Beck, Modern Guilt
Coldplay, Viva La Vida
Kathleen Edwards, Asking for Flowers
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Jackie Greene, Giving Up the Ghost
Cyndi Lauper, Bring Ya to the Brink
Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Lovin'
Aimee Mann, @#%&*! Smilers
MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
Bob Mould, District Line
My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
Nada Surf, Lucky
R.E.M., Accelerate
Radiohead, In Rainbows
Santogold, Santogold
Sigur Ros, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Weezer, Weezer (The Red Album)

Together Again

It's been a long, brutal month, but Thursday Luke and Noah will be reunited...by no less than Cyndi Lauper!

That's right--this Thursday, Cyndi Lauper will appear on As the World Turns to play fairy godmother to Luke and Noah. The show is promoting the hell out of her appearance, with a Web promo video and one on TV.

Tune in Thursday to see Luke and Noah kiss and declare their love for one another!

I Made That!

Look, Luke and Noah kissed again!



I get a special sense of joy from this knowing that my bitching about the lack of kissing was one small part of a very large campaign to make this happen.

Congratulations!

Report: DeGeneres, de Rossi plan to marry - Celebrities- msnbc.com

Ellen may not have had any direct hand in yesterday's ruling, but her bravery a decade ago certainly helped kick off the sea change in attitudes about gay relationships we've seen since.

I hope she throws the wedding of the year. She deserves it, and seeing it will help a lot of people understand why gay marriage matters.

Tears of Joy

Gay marriage ban overturned in Calif. - msnbc.com

Funny how this doesn't seem quite as revolutionary as Massachusetts, and yet...it means just as much , maybe more.

And good news: "I respect the court's decision and as governor, I will uphold its ruling," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a statement. "Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this (ruling)."

Wow.